News

California Agencies Seek Dairy Digester Projects

25 September 2013

US - The California Department of Food and Agriculture, the US Environmental Protection Agency and their partner agencies in the California/Federal Dairy Digester Working Group have announced a joint solicitation for dairy digester concept proposals.

California is the largest dairy state in the USA, with approximately 1.7 million cows producing more than 3.6 million dry tons of manure per year that must be managed to reduce or mitigate environmental impacts.

Manure can be processed by anaerobic digesters to produce biogas, a flexible renewable source of energy.

The ultimate goals of the collaboration are to see the widespread adoption of digester systems to better manage manure and nutrients, help address air and water quality concerns, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and produce renewable energy, fertilizer, and other value-added products.

“California farmers and ranchers are innovators by nature,” said CDFA Secretary Karen Ross.

“Dairy digester technology is an idea whose time has come, and that is largely due to work done right here on California’s dairy farms. We are at a point where focused funding can help us make the transition to wider adoption and implementation of digesters in our state.”